Harvard University pushes back as Trump targets university over pro-Palestine protests

The elite university has told the Trump administration it won’t bow to political pressure, even as its federal funding is threatened.

The clash erupted after the administration demanded sweeping changes to Harvard’s internal policies—from rules around pro-Palestine campus protests to diversity and inclusion programmes - or risk losing funding.

“No government - regardless of which party is in power - should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue,” said President Alan Garber in a message to students and staff.

The university’s lawyers doubled down in a formal letter to Washington, accusing the federal government of trampling on long-standing academic freedoms and attempting to override protections enshrined in the First Amendment.

The move comes just days after Columbia University, under similar pressure, agreed to make changes demanded by the Trump administration in a bid to recover $400m in frozen funds. That gamble backfired. Not only was the money withheld, but the administration slashed more funding.

Harvard University, like several other educational institutions in the US, has been a key site for pro-Palestinian protesters since Israel's war on Gaza began in October 2023.